Homework
by Sabby-Sama
Summary: Everyone knows Vincent has a dry sense of humour. Except for poor Denzel when he only asked help with a simple homework question.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **If only I won the lottery. **Maybe** then i'd be able to own rights to FFVII.

Homework

Out of the whole AVALANCHE "family", there was no doubt that Vincent was the smartest. Thus making him a great homework-helper.

Everyone else in the group was of no use to the two children, Denzel and Marlene.

Cid was only useful when you wanted to ask him about every brand of cigarretts on the Planet. When asked, he can name all 147 of them. A skill he took great pride in and often boasted about, but one Tifa frowned upon, saying 'Be a rolemodel to the children for goddess sake, Cid!"

Which leads me to Tifa. Nibelhiem wasn't a village with a good education system so Tifa wasn't very well educated. Not that she was stupid or anything. Not being able to name a couple of cities on a different country wasnt neccesary life skills. When living in Edge, it all amounted to street smarts, not book smarts.

Same thing for Cloud, but he was a little bit more lacking on the street smarts side.

Yuffie... Well, lets just not go there. At all.

The kids knew better then to go to Barett for anything ELA related (or ANYTHING school related because he was a class clown back in his school years), it didn't take a mad scientist to figure THAT one out.

Which leaves Vincent being the safest option here. It was also common knowledge that Vincent had a dry sense of humour, which was something the poor young boy didn't understand.

It didnt surprise Vincent when Denzel waltzed into his room with a confused expression and a huge text book in his hands. It certainly wasn't the first time he did.

The chestnut haired boy flopped onto Vincents bed that was next to the heavy desk he was currently sitting at as he usually did when he came to 'Professor Vincent' for help.

"Uncle Vincent, I need help." The boy whined. The demonic man looked over at him.

The man grunted, "What suject this time?" He asked, getting up from his chair and standing next to Denzel, bending down to get a good look at his text book while brushing his absurd bangs out of his eyes.

"Science." the boy said while rolling his eyes and propping his chin with his hand in a bored fahion. To him Science was the worst subject in the HISTORY of subjects.

Vincent grinned at the boys obvious enthusiasm. "Well, you are in luck. I was extremely well in Science back when I was your age." He chuckled to him self slighty at how ironic that was, him being good at SCIENCE, the very thing that made him what he used to be.

Not knowing how to respond, the boy just nodded. He flipped open his book quickly and pointed to a question. Vincent read it over to himself in his usual monotone under his breath. Denzel thought he sounded like he was speaking jumbled jibberish and smirked slightly.

_'How do you find the volume of an irregularly shaped object?',_ It read.

Vincent knew the answer to this fairly simple question, but he didn't remember doing something like this until he was a freshman in highschool!

"Denzel, what grade are you in again?" the red-eyed man asked unsurely when the child sighed impatiently the second Vincent spoke the word 'grade' as if the boy already knew what he was going to say.

"I'm in seventh now, Uncle Vincent." He replied. Gosh, Auntie Yuffie was right when she gabbed about Vincent getting old!

Vincent was shocked, but recovered replacing his astonishment with a mask of stone. Schools these days were getting advanced, he mused. Everything was different back when he was in school some fifty years or-so ago.

Well, of course it was. Fifty years is a long time. Vincent closed is eyes and shook his head slightly, feeling stupid. And definetly like an 'old fart' as Yuffie liked to say.

Denzel looked up at him, eyebrows scrunched while watching the mans odd behavior. Vincent noticed him staring and waved his human hand as if brushing off his thoughts from thin air.

"Alright," he spoke, "To find the volume of an object that isnt a regular shape, you can't measure it with a ruler, right?" at the delayed nod, he continued while tapping the question with his gauntlets pointer finger.,"For example, if we wanted to measure the volume of, say, a certain ninja's hand, you would place it into a container filled with water that has measurments up the side. That's called water displacment-"

The boy cut him off, " Um, what do you mean by a hand..?", his eyes widening.

"Let's just say you chop off said ninja's hand so she cannot steal anymore of my Materia and plop it into the container of water." Vincent said in a blunt, dry humour way.

Denzel started looking around frantically, feeling antsy. "Umm, I think i'll just... have better luck having Cloud help me." And with that the boy snatched his book, sprung off the bed and raced out of the room, down the stairs into the bar area in a blink of an eye, leaving behind a very frazzled Vincent Valentine.

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><p>AND SCENE.<p>

I think I might turn this into a mini series, with Denzel hopping around to everyone in the bar searching for help with his homework. I think I got some good idea's for when he asks Cloud ^_^

It might be another day or two- or three, until I update the next chapter. But of course, Reviews are like sugar to me, making me hyper which in turn will help me type faster!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Denzel leaped own the stairs, two at a time. Risking breaking his neck was better then getting his hand chopped off by Uncle Vincent! At the bottom of the staircase, he looked back up to see if Vincent was following him, and sighed in relief when he wasn't.

Clutching the book to his chest, the boy started searching for Cloud, his father figure.

Before running down the stairs, he had rushed to his room to get the other homework he had since Vincent had somewhat helped him with his Science troubles.

Cloud was in the back of the bar helping Tifa un-pack casess of wine and stock them on the shelves. Denzel strode up to him with a meek, half smile.

"Hey, Cloud? I know your busy but could you maybe help me with some homework?" The boy asked eyeing all the work he still had left to be done.

Tifa looked over her shoulder at Cloud and smiled sadly. She understood why Denzel hardly came to her for help, but she figured it was just a guy thing. "It's fine, I'll finsh up here." She said in her warm motherly tone.

Cloud nodded at her and ruffled Denzels chestnut coored hair and smiled softly, "Sure thing, buddy." Denzel broke out in a 100-watt smile as Cloud led him to the front of the bar and they sat at a booth, sitting across from one another.

"Ok, so what it is your stuck on?" Cloud spoke to the boy, leaning his elbows on the table and leaning forward to see the stacks of paper and textbooks he had strewn across the table.

Denzel picked up a rather large book that had 'MATH' written across in bold print. Cloud grimaced.

He SUCKED at math. Even when doing all these deliveries he would screw up prices and reciepts.

"Why couldn't Uncle Vincent help you? He's ten times smarter then me." The blonde said while running a hand through his spikes, anxiety starting to kick in. He didn't want to be the cause of Denzel flunking.

Denzel froze at the name, eyes the size of the Planet itself. "L-lets just say he had...um, stuff to do." It was hard for even CLOUD not to notice the boys strange behavior at the name, but didnt question him about it.

Cloud dragged the text book away from Denzel and across the table towards him and opened it to a page number written inside of Denzel's agenda which was also open on the table.

"Oh, gods.." Cloud sighed upon seeing the endless list of numbers in the equations. He rubbed his eyes with his palms trying to get the sickly sight out of his mind. This was worse then walking in on Cid in the bathroom!

"This is the one I need help one." The boy spoke softly, understanding Clouds pain while pointing to a line of huge numbers.

The blonde man opened his eyes getting the sight of Cid playing with toy planes that apparently also could swim while in the tub, naked, out of his mind and looked at where the boy was pointing at.

"Alright..." The blonde said, trailing off. Cloud stared off in a daze, looking past Denzel at the picture behind him in n eerily manner. Denzel started to get afraid that Cloud might turn into a psycho out of no where like Vincent had. When he was about to veeery slowly climb out of the booth not to break the man from his thoughts, Cloud lifted a hand.

The boy stared at the man he looked up to with a mix of emotions that would make anyone worry for the boys sanity if they were to walk into the bar now and see him.

But who could blame him when the man sitting across from him was equal, or more so, not looking so sane?

Cloud still held the dazed, clouded over look in his eyes as his hands drew imaginary numbers and symbols in the air wildly.

What Denzel didn't understand, was why Cloud was relying on this odd strategy when there was perfectly fine paper and pencils in front of him...

But what really had Denzel almost rolling around on the ground in hysterics, was when Cloud imaginary-erased something wrong in the fictional math problem.

A giggle from across the room and broke them both out of their concentration.

Tifa was leaning against the door frame to the back of the bar, a hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes. Apparently, she was standing there the whole time trying to hold in her amusment, until now.

"Cloud, what on GAIA are you doing?" Tifa laughed out in between laughs.

Cloud smiled sheepishly and looked down at his sock-clad feet. "It's a trick that helps me- Hey! don't look at me like i'm crazy!"

Before chasing Tifa into the back of the bar to commence a tickle war, Cloud turned to Denzel, who was seated quietly taking the whole event in and said, "Three thousand, four hundred twenty two." winked, ruffled the boys hair again and disappeared into the back of the bar.

Denzel realized he still had homework to do and wandered throughout the bar finding anyone who can help him that WEREN'T named Cloud or Vincent.

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><p>Wow, I didn't expect to get such a quick responce with the first chapter! I'm so blown away! I've gotten atleast 5 likeswatches and a review. Thank you so much to those people! Here's what I promised, and uber super duper fast update! Reviews are very much appreciated for another quick update. I have half of it written up so far, so IF I get a couple more Reviews I'll update it faster then you can say 'more chapters please!'

By the way, I have a poll going on in my profile, go check it out and vote! It will be incoroparted with another I have in mind for FF VII ;D

~Sabby-Sama


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Denzel saw Vincent leave 7th Heaven from his hiding spot behind the counter, he made his way back up the stairs, coast clear.

He wandered down the halls of 7th Heavens living quarters searching for the next sucker who would have to help him with his school work and in turn make them feel stupid and or embarrased.

Just then, something hit Denzel and the boy fell backwards, his rear skidding on the hardwood. School work thrown in everywhich way and papers silently fluttering to the ground. Shaking his head and blinking rapidly, he saw a small, blurry figure in front of him also on the floor rub it's head and screech "Ouch, Denzel! Your so dumb!"

After another round of blinking, his senses cleared and he saw Marlene sprawled in front of him rubbing her temples quite fiercly. Marlene had opened the door to her room to walk out into the hall carrying her own school work and ran into Denzel, who was passing by. They collided, and everything went askew while a book hit Marlene in the head.

"Marlene? What are you doing here?" Denzel said to the girl who he thought of as a sister.

The girl huffed and started to collect her possessions," 'Oh, Marlene are you ok?' " She said into a lower boyish tone no doubt mimicking Denzel's voice," 'I'm fine, Denzel don't worry about it.' " Marlene spoke again in her regular voice, an edge of sarcasm throughout.

"I'm sorry, Marlene." Denzel drawled out, not at all in an apologetic way.

The pink bow adorned girl stood up,"Whatever, apparently you don't know I live here too. Anyways, I was just trying to find Papa so he could help me with something." She spoke, everything in her hands.

"Oh, me too! Not the papa part though, but I guess Barett could help me with some school stuff too." the boy shrugged. "What kinda work do you need help with?" Denzel motioned to the stuff in her hands.

The girl scrunched her nose and stuck out her tongue as if disgusted by the mention of work in her hands."English."

"Ditto." Denzel made a funny face and Marlene giggled slightly at his sillyness as they walked together down the corridor to a door that had obviously been punched through, and repaired, many times. From the other side the two children heard grunting and the clink! of metal.

Marlene tried knocking the door with her elbow, arms full and tried to open the door. Denzel had a free hand and helped her.

"Papa?" The girl spoke,"Papa, I need help with some work. Denzel too." The girl entered the room with Denzel following.

Sitting at bench in the corner of the room was Barett lifting some impressively heavy looking weights with his human hand. He looked up and smiled when he saw his daughter and his nephew-in-bond enter.

" 'Ey guys! How you two doin'?" The large man spoke.

Denzel looked at Marlene, wanting her to do all the talking. Denzel sometimes felt intimidated by the man who was quadruple his size, height and width wise.

"Ok, I guess. We need help with some English homework though.." The girl pouted. Barett's deep chuckle filled the room.

"Well, ya come to the right guy! I jus' so happen ta be an English major." The big man grinned cockily and jabbed a meaty thumb at his chest. Denzel wasn't sure if he was joking or telling the truth. He just couldn't picture Barett sitting in a desk, with those tiny glasses that English majors wore (or atleast thats how he streotyped them as) reading something sophisticated and without pictures.

Marlene laughed and dumped her stuff on the empty space onto the bench and kneeled in front of it. Denzel followed suit and sat next to her. Barett stayed seated in the same spot and craned his neck to see what materials the children had while still lifting his weight.

"So whaddya got, sentences 'gain?" He directed at Marlene, both of the children nodded.

"We both have the same teacher, so we have the same Spelling Words. And we have to put them into sentences." Barett grunted in acknowledgment.

Schools in Edge were different. The classes were usually filled with kids at different ages, not seperated by more than a few years of age. Some of them were given different work based on their age, while sometimes they all had the same work, as the case with Marlene and Denzel.

"I can't think of how to put the word 'adventure.' into a sentence." Denzel spoke, pursing his lips.

Barett stopped lifting his weight and thought before speaking again, "Me and Barett are going on a adventure to save the Planet with the help of orb thingies!" The man spoke proudly as if coming up with a lame sentence was a substitute for winning a Newberry Medal.

"How does that rule saying go again? About dropping a letter or something?" Denzel spoke while biting on his pencils eraser.

"There ain't no rule, your teach' lies." Barett said simply.

"I need help spelling it.." Marlene spoke looking at Barett pleading with her eyes. Denzel looked up towards the Heavens and shook his head. He knew what Marlene was doing. She was trying to guilt Barett into doing most of the work. And true to his suspicion's, Barett took the bait.

Denzel had to remember to use the Puppy Eyes card on Tifa when trying to ask for his own Fenrir for Christmas. Not that Santa didn't exsist, because Denzel was a faithful believer of the fat, breaking and enter-er. He had to tell Tifa so she could tell Santa's elves. Atleast that's what she's told him.

Barett took the puny pink pencil Marlene offered him and started to scribble quickly on the piece of lined paper, breaking the pencil point a couple of times during the process.

He passed the paper back to Marlene and she showed what he wrote:

_'me + barett R goeng on ah adventur to save da planet!'_

Marlene copied the sentence onto her paper grinning in the process at her sucess of being lazy and having her father doing all the thinking.

Denzel did the opposite and frowned.

The boy piped up over the scribbling of Marlene's pencil and Barett's weight lifting grunts," Um, Barett, I don't think thats right." He was afraid of correcting the man, but he didn't want Marlene getting a F. Barett stopped again and looked over to Denzel, his brow creasing slightly.

"Whatcha mean? It ain't wrong, I know so." Barett sniffed in a prissy way. He didn't dislike the boy, no. He just disliked it when people said he was wrong when he was ALWAYS right.

Denzel blinked a couple of times and ran a shaky finger underneath the sentence M arlene had wrote. "I think the spelling's wrong, and our teacher says it's proper to say the persons name first and then I. So it would be 'Barett and I.' instead. And we need capital letters and I don't think the teacher would like the use of a plus sign outside of math, either..." He trailed off when he saw the man's face turn a burning red color underneath the tone of his usual dark complexion.

As Barett would say himself, he was 'in deep -censor- now.' Denzel cringed and Marlene whipped her head to look at him, jaw dropped and a 'Please don't tell me you just said that!' look.

The buff man huffed out of his nose and spoke louder than he was before, "Well your teach' is a damned foo' if she thinks she knows all that. If anyone knows a thing or two, it oughta be me! And proper?" Barett snorted,"we live under the plate, not above it with all 'em stuck ups."

Denzel hung his head meekly at being scolded and nodded slightly.

"I'm a bit busy, why don'tcha find someone else in this place to help ya kiddo's out." Barett said, more of a demand instead of an offer. His ego was definetly shattered by mere Denzel.

Marlene crossed her arms and glared at Denzel. Denzel ignored her and stood up taking his items elsewhere. The brown haired girl stood up, streched her legs and gave her father a hug. He smoothed out her hair and waved goodbye as the children left his room.

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><p>Wow, just...wow. I'm absolutly, totally loving the responce i'm getting from this FanFic, even though it confuses me as to why! None of my other Fics have gotten this kind of attention so I'm overly happy! Thank you so much to all the Reviewer's, and the people who added this story to their favoriteswatch! If any of you cool people out there have some good idea's you want to see in the next chapter, don't be afraid to leave it in a Review! Hopefully I'll be able to add the next chapter maybe tomorrow, depending on Reviews. I got quite a few Reviews on the past 2 chapters, hence why I uploaded them BOTH IN THE SAME DAY! Also, the poll I mentioned last chapter is still going on, so ya might wanna swing buy and check that out ;D THE PLANET DEPENDS ON YOUR VOTE! Or, maybe a new plot bunny depends on it...

Until next time,

~Sabby-Sama


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Marlene exhaled, blowing her bangs off her forehead trying to get them to stay in place. "Look what you did Denzel! Now what?" The girl asked irritated at her brother -in-bond.

"Hey, don't be blaming me that Barett lied about him majoring in English!" Denzel tried defending himself.

The girl rolled her eyes," He was kidding, Denzel. Gosh, you really have to stop hanging with Cloud." Denzel opened his mouth in protest. She was NOT bringing innocent Cloud into this. She continued, "His denseness is rubbing off on you. And before you know it, you'll have Chocobo hair like him, blonde and everything." He shut his mouth. Marlene had a point there.

They were seated on the floor, their heads rested against a wall. They sat there in silence mentally debating with them self wether they should;  
>A: Put their heads together to work on their homework.<br>B: Find some other adult that might be just as helpless

Or C: Just steal one of Auntie Yuffie's Fire Materia and obliterate their homework into next week.

Right now, choice C sounded more delicious then Tifa's homemade chocolate cake. There was no way the second option was a good idea. It was just pointless. And forget about the first, It just wouldn't end well.

The sound of splashing broke their thoughts. They looked at one another, their eyebrows lifted.

The sound was coming from behind the door infront of them. The bathroom. They scooted closer to listen.

"Heh, Shera, ya can't swim for beans and bacon!", came the familiar southern accent."Hmm, that actually sounds pretty darn good right 'bout now..." Cid murmured to himself. Denzel and Marlene shared a knowing look and broke into silent giggles. They had heard Cloud telling Tifa about Cid's "bath time adventures".

They cupped their hands to their ears and leaned against the door. Auntie Yuffie's eavesdropping classes were really coming in handy.

The muffled southern accent lifted an octave and a half producing a mans VERY annoying attempt at trying to copy what sounded like a deformed-like woman's voice. "Don't be such a meanie, Tiny Bronco!" An onslaught of spit filled explosion and heavy artillery sound effects commenced and all was silent. Then violent splashing and a shrill shriek of, "Drown, Bronco! DROWN." Cid was heard coughing hoarsley, no doubt from the change of voice.

Right when Cid started to play his role as Highwind, the door down stairs to the entrance of the bar flew opened and Denzel heard something shatter. The boy tore away from the door and sat at alert straining his ears to hear what was going on below him.

"Do beards that are like, Dumbledore long get frizzy and curly when it's raining outside, Vinnie?" came the sound of Yuffie's surprisingly loud enough voice to be heard clearly from Denzels spot. He tensed.

Vincent was back. And Yuffie was with him!

He had to go down there and save Auntie Yuffie. If her hand got chopped off, who else would be the awesome Aunt in his life who would buy him a jumbo pack of candy for no reason and encourage him to eat it?

But...he was too afraid to go down and warn her. He liked his hands.

A soft sound was heard, possibly a sigh from Vincent. Marlene was too absorbed in Cid's shananigans to pay any attention to Denzel.

"Yuffie, how would I possibly know that? I do not have a beard." Vincents soft sounding reply held a layer of irritation under his mellow tone.

Denzel could just hear Yuffie roll her eyes at him,"Don't be silly! I saw that picture of you back from before you were a Turk in your room. You had a beard then!"

A pause, one filled with a shudder or a cringe from Vincent. "How many times have I told you that creeping into someone's room while they are asleep is not sending the right message?I knew I should have burned that photograph..."

As Yuffie was chattering on about her thoughts on long beards and how conditioner could help with the problem, Denzel started to panic. Vincent's frying pan-like footwear started to clunk towards the stairwell. And then they started to slowly ascend them...

Denzel took in a breath he didn't realize he was holding and blurted,"Sorry Marlene, gotta go change my socks, bye!" coming up with the first (lame) excuse he could think of for abruptley leaving, lunged for his things and dashed down the hall in the opposite direction of the stairs.

Marlene stopped her soft chuckles at Cid's expense and watched Denzel dash down the hall, tripping over his exposed toes that weren't wearing any socks to begin with.

She shook her head.

Boys were so weird.

* * *

><p>Turning a right, then a left, Denzel came to the door to his favorite spot. It was only his favorite spot because it was one of his favorite person's favorite spot.<p>

The boy eagerly grabbed at the door knob and pulled it open, the hinges creaking slowly. It was a door to another set of stairs that led to the roof of the bar. Denzel should find him there. After all, that's where he was always chilling.

Denzel remembered that he used to be so frightened of the dark stairway, always feeling paranoid that a monster would somehow pop out of thin air and attack him in the cramped space. But that was all when he was younger and weak. Now he was older and stronger thanks to Cloud's words and training sessions.

As he climbed the many stairs, light filtering in from the opened door behind him in a way that was perfect for a horror movie scene, he thought about all the good times that happened on this stairwell.

How he and Marlene would have slinky races, but instead of slinkys, they would use their sticky fingers and snatch some stray Materia they found around the household. And the time where he slipped on someones toy car (which was NOT his, by the way. It was probably Cids...) because of the plastic wheels and fell back, but how Tifa was behind him and caught him. He could have broken his leg and not have been able to play football with Cloud for a month or two.

Tifa and Cloud never usually aproved of the children going up to the roof by themselves because they were 'irresponsible' even though they weren't little anymore. But that's probably why they acted that way, Denzel thought.**_ They miss us being little and now we're almost grown up._** He was a big kid now and he could take care of himself, slaying any stray boogeymen (or stray toy cars that he-, I mean CID didn't play with anymore) that stood in his way.

Denzel paused in his trek up the rickety stairs. What's up with all the sappy thoughts? It's just some old, cobweb infested stairs. He shook his head. Starting to turn into a girl...

The stairs stopped, a sign of Denzels journey coming to an end. He felt for the door's knob in the almost complete shroud of darkness.

The boy blinked a a few times trying to get his eyes to adjust to the bright daylight outside (bright for Edge anyways..) And smiled at when he saw who he was looking for lying on the flat slope part of the roof admiring the clouds above him.

* * *

><p>Can anyone guess who the mystery person is in the end? *Chuckles evil-y*<p>

Anyways, Review please and tell me what you thought of this chapter! And as always, i'm open to any ideas for this fanfic or a prompt for something entirely different, like a new oneshot. Once again, I have a poll on my profile. Check it out! I promise to get the next chapter up ASAP, that is, of course, if I get a good amount of reviews ;D

~Sabby-Sama


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The black spikey mass lying on the roof lifted and turned toward the sound of Denzel shutting the door. The owner of the black hair smirked at the young boy.

"Hey, buddy! What are you doing up here?" Denzel smiled, excited that his second role model in life was glad to see him. He scampered over to the man, hauling his school work with him. He sat on the slight sloping edge of the roof next to the man and gave him a fist bump, their usual greeting.

"Hi, Zack!" Denzel said in a more chipper than usual tone. "Barett said I should come to you for help."

"H-he did?" Zack choked out not believing what the boy was saying.

Denzel looked at him strangely, "Uh-huh, he-" Zack shot up from his postion of resting on his elbows behind him, cutting the boy off with a hysteric's filled voice.

"Did he say something about a special talk? Because i'm pretty sure Cloud is supposed to handle that part" He spoke loudly, his voice echoing across the city. Denzel was once again stunned in his spot, not sure what to do.

Zack kept rambling, but this time it was more to him self than to the world,"Oh gods, what am I supposed to say..I don't remember anything from Health class in middle school. I shouldn't have been laughing about everything with the guys...And of course Mister Terminator Man sends Denzel to me, that wimp.." His brows were scrunched together in thought as he rubbed his chin in a worried, manic way.

Denzel slammed his stuff to his right, in between he and Zack as an answer to the ravenettes earlier question. Zack, who who was lost in his own thoughts, snapped out of it and raised an eyebrow so high it grazed the dazzling blue sky he was admiring earlier.

Zack cleared his throat when he noticed the younger boy smiling awkwardly at him, expectantly"Oh, um.. What's all this kiddo?" the man asked knowing EXACTLY what the pile of processed tree's were.

"School work." The boy replied simply as if he thought the older man was joking with him when he didn't know what it was.

There was a pause. A slight breeze ruffled their hair, adding to the odd quietness. "...Right. and what's it for?

"_This_ is what I needed help with." The boy looked away slightly embarrassed at the thought of what Zack had thought he was suggesting earlier. Zack's eyes widened in realization and his mouth formed a slight 'o'.

"Right, right." The ravenette nodded quickly and slightly embarrassed himself.

They sat again in silence for a while longer.

"So, you didn't need me to um, TALK to you?" Zack asked just to make sure.

"Not that I know of, no." The boy trailed off. Denzel spoke again.

"Cloud already talked to me about that a while ago. It wasn't pretty." The both of them laughed shakily "But Cloud did mention to come to you for any girl help." he coughed uneasily, mentally kicking himself for even bringing that up. Zack, however, didn't mind at all.

Zack bounced up, almost kicking a rather coma indusing looking book at the brunettes head. Grinning cheekily at the polluted and highly populated city spreading in front him, Zack jabbed a thumb at himself and announced cockily, "Well, I AM the best guy to come to in this whole city for advice. Just ask Aerith. I'm quite the ladies man." He winked at the boy. Denzel snorted and began to laugh.

If accidently buying Aerith a box of old people sugar-free chocolates (Which by the way, was plastered in bold on the box) for Valentines day (Which was three days earlier when Zack had presented the gift to Aerith) was anything close to being a ladies man, Denzel wanted to turn and run into the other direction, asking Cid for girl troubles instead.

Not wanting to bring up that little tidbit of information since Zacks protests were kind of annyoing, Denzel nodded.

Zack plopped back down in his earlier spot, crossing his pajama-clad legs in a pretzel-like fashion. Even if it was almost 3 in the afternoon, Zack insisted staying in his PJ's jokingly saying each time, 'if any touchy-feely dude comes remotely close to Tifa, my Bahamut jammies will scare the intruder away!' and then he would do a victorious stance while puffing out his chest.

Cloud wouldn't have a problem with it if the pajama's actually had the power of doing that. Baby Bahamut's dressed as Moogles weren't that scary, unless you were Vincent who was openly terrified of Moogles.

Zack started to fiddle with a section of stubborn paint like a kid with ADHD that wouldn't peel off no matter how much he skillfully scratched at it with his blunt fingernails. Sighing frustratingly in defeat, he gave up.

The schoolwork, which was long forgotten still sat blatantly in between the both of them.

Denzel took a deep breath, and spoke slowly after much thought, "Actually, now that you mention it...I think I do need some girl advice." This stopped Zack cold from his current actions of flexing his arms and talking to his muscle's like a young girl would with Barbie's. He slowly swiveled his head to look at the boy.

Denzel quickly began to observe his hands in his lap with sheepish smile when he noticed Zack watching him, astounded.

"Whoa, really?" Zack was slowly starting to defrost from his surprise and now he was getting pumped up again. He punched Denzel softly in the arm. "To be honest, me and Cloud were starting to think you were cheering for the other team since you never took an intrest in girls before." Zack responded painfully blunt, but honest.

Denzel snapped his head up to leer at the man, his mouth simultaneously dropping open at the prospect.

"Why would you think that? I like girls, Zack!" The boy exclaimed in a harsh tone.

Even though Zack was caught of guard, and slightly afraid of the younger boys quick mood change, Zack went into goof mode.

"Oh, PHEW! I was worried there for a minute. Don't want you to turn out like Uncle Cid. " Zack was refering to Cid and his odd bathtimes, which everyone apparently knew about in the household. He wiped the imaginary sweat on his forehead and then gave the boy an agressive noogie. Denzel squirmed trying to get free but gave up and decided to laugh along with Zack.

They both settled back down again, Zack resting an arm on the boys shoulder.

"Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Whose this lucky little lady to have caught your eye, hmm?" he smirked at the blush the boy had on his cheeks and nudged him, emphasizing to confess.

"Promise you won't laugh?" Denzel spoke to Zack. Zack rolled his eyes, which were sparkling with curiosity. He was always into the whole who-liked-who thing, especially in school and he still hasn't grown out of it. Like a lot of other things.

"I swear, I won't laugh. Cross my heart or may I be struck by lightning." Now reasurred, Denzel spilled the beans.

"Marlene!" The boy blurted out.

Zack nodded, not laughing like he promised. He didn't even know why Denzel thought that he would. After all, the ravenette didn't take EVERYTHING lightly. Right?

Denzel was shocked by Zack's expression as much as he was with his responce, "Figures." Zack had a distant look in his eyes, no doubt remembering his first crush as he looked down on Edge below them.

"W-What do you mean?"

Zack sighed softly at how oblivious the boy was. He smiled at him, waking up from his two second funk. "It only makes sense you would like her, buddy. Your always with each other and you get along well. You two are like best friends. It kinda reminds me a bit of how me an Aerith were when we were younger." Zack chuckled to himself at the old memories.

"Really? Wow... Do you think she'd, you know, like me back?" Denzel looked up at Zack with a look in his puppy eyes that wanted the answers to all the universe's questions having to do with girls.

"Well, I do always say I know everything, but that's something I honestly don't know, Denz. You just have to find out yourself." Denzel winced at the idea. He didn't want to approach Marlene and tell her his feelings and have her reject him, or worse, laugh in his face.

"But what if-" Denzel started to whine but Zack lifted a hand to stop him.

"No what if's. Just go out and do it. If you don't you might not have another chance and you'll ultimately regret it." Denzel nodded.

A couple of clouds that looked suspiciously close to storm clouds rolled by over head before Denzel spoke again.

"Jeez, Zack. Never thought you'd be so wise!" Denzel laughed while Zack pouted.

"I'm not dumb and immature like everyone says, you know!" It was Denzels turn to noogie Zack.

"Ha, what ever keeps you from crying." Denzel said sarcastically. Oh, so this kids dishing out hot, plater-fulls of snarky comebacks now, huh? Zack thought. Time to teach him a lesson!

"You're messing with the wrong man, Denzel!" The ravenette got the boy in a headlock. Denzel refused to forfeit and wriggeled out of it easily like Cloud showed him.

"Man? Pfft. You have the brain of a 10 year old!" Denzel pounced on Zack and they began to wrestle playfully.

Eventually, Zack tapped out. Wrestling on the roof of a two story building was NOT a good idea. Gods forbid if one of them got hurt. Tifa would pulvarize Zack, regardless of who it was that got hurt.

Denzel started huffing for air, entirely winded, while Zack on the other hand was just as tired as he would be if he used a can opener on a can of pea's.

Zack jerked his head into the direction of the door that led back into the building. "Go get her, champ." Denzel nodded and beamed at Zack. He got his incomplete homework and ran down the stairs almost tripping over the hem of Cloud's hand-me-down pants.

* * *

><p>Yup, It's Zack! I lvoe him too much for him to die, so in my world of writing, HE'S ALIVE! And, Aerith too, even though I don't like her that much But what Zack Fair without his Aerith Gainsborough?<p>

Alos, sorry for not updating for a while! It's kinda hard to do that when your laptop is held hostage by a sibling. This ones a tad bit longer then the last one to make up for the lateness. I didn't really intend for this chapter to go this way, but I think I like it better then my original idea, honestly. SO. I need some opinions, how should Marlene react to Denzel's confession, hmm? Should she reject him or accept him? Voice your opinions through a Review, also telling me what you thought of this chapter! And, the poll is still going on, I still need a couple more votes!

PS: I though I should share this for the LOLz. I failed logging into my account so those "Are you human" things pop up and one of the words that I had to type in to acsess my acount was "cockburn" xD

~Sabby-Sama


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The boy peered around the corner and noticed his adoptive mom, Tifa washing some dishes in the vast sink of the bar's kitchen

"Hey, um, Tifa have you seen Marlene anywhere?" Denzel asked while anxiously hopping from one foot to the other.

She looked over her shoulder from her spot in front of the sink of warm soapy water, her curious garnet gaze on Denzel.

"She told me not too long ago she was going to be in her room, I believe?" She replied. "Why, what's -?" But before she could finish, in a blink of her eyes, the chestnut haired boy had turned back around and dashed up the stairs.

**_Duh, why didn't I think to look there before coming back down here?_** He asked himself stupidly. He was so excited and nervous at the same time he almost skipped a step and fell flat on his face.

After hearing Zack's wise and sagely words about Denzel and his young love-life troubles, Denzel felt encouraged to confess to Marlene that he liked her. And he hoped that she liked him back.

If not, how pathetic would Denzel look? After all, they were going to be living in the same house and seeing each other everyday. It would surely be embarrasing if she burst out in a fit of giggles right in Denzels face, possibly throwing freshly sharpened crayons at him also.

All the time in school he would get jealous and possesive over Marlene. Marlene was a very friendly girl who had made lots of friends, half of which being boys. She was also a pretty girl at that and almost all the boys in Denzels class liked her. If he saw as much as an innocent glance from a boy to Marlene, Denzel would grit his teeth, his stomach turning.

He would feel the same way if even one of his own friends who kind of knew about Denzel and his crush, but were sworn under boy scouts honour not to say anything, did something completely harmless. Like at lunch about a week ago where Marlene couldn't open a packet of ketchup and asked one of his friends for help. Why didn't she just ask him? Did she not think he was strong enough to open a flimsy condiment package? He WAS sitting right next to her after all!

Not to mention when the boy gave it back to her with a slight blush on his face when her finger brushed his palm for a fraction of a second. Denzel wasn't sure if Marlene noticed the contact, but if she did it would explain the bright, bubbly smile she gave the other boy.

Denzel clenched his fists and instead of sprinting he stomped the rest of the way up the stairs and down mid-way of the hall. He stood at the door on the left and took a couple of breaths trying to calm himself down. The last thing he wanted to do was look like an angered bull when telling her his feelings. He knocked once softly, then loudly once more again, than a rapid fire of taps, their secret knock they came up with, before entering.

The heavy wood door created a gust and blew the familiar scent of fresh laundry, lavender air freshner and a faint waft of cotton candy, which was Marlene's favorite snack which she often stole from the cabinent downstairs when Tifa wasn't looking as to avoid getting scolded for ruining her dinner. Denzel knew that she always had a stash of it hidden behind her clothes hamper in the corner.

He stepped over the threshold and into the partialy tiddy room, taking extra care to tiptoe around the fluffy white circular rug on the ground knowing Marlene would have his feet on a stick that she would hang proudly above her bed if he did. She was very OCD about not getting it dirty, even if you were wearing socks.

The yellow and white polka-dotted sheet covered bed was unmade, a lumpy mess. On top of said lump mess was a pink bow peeking up from a mountain of nearby stuffed animals. Denzel walked up to the bow and pushed over the stuffed animals reavealing Marlene.

Marlene was lying on her stomach, while her legs were waving in the air wildly. The girl had earbuds in and was listening to music on her MP3 player, the cause of not hearing Denzel knocking and entering earlier. She also had a piece of white printer paper (No doubt stolen from Cloud's office, Yuffie being the bad influence here) folded in what looked like a card. A box of crayons and markers nearby and she had blue crayon in her hand as she scribbled on the card, a soft scratch emnating from it.

She was looking down intently on her card, completely in the zone as she worked her hardest on the card. Denzel smirked and raised two fingers to his mouth and blew, creating a high pitched whistle (A skill learned from Zack ages ago when they were on the roof one day trying to confuse and annoy people) that Marlene HATED.

Marlene jumped. Thank Gods her crayon flew out of her grasp instead of skidding across the paper screwing up the artwork. If not, Marlene would probably test out some new martial arts moves on Denzel.

She knew there was only one person who would whistle like that just to piss her off. Her head snapped up, her eyes meeting Denzels.

Marlebe scrambled about trying to push her art suplies under her pillow and out of sight, while the card got swifty tucked under her stomach.

"Hi Denzel, how's it going?" She tried to reply cooly, resisting the urge to bite on her bottom lip from the loud screeching of the whistle that still had an effect on her even if she was listening to music.

Denzel raised an eyebrow at Marlene's suspicious behaviour.

**_Weird,_** he thought.**_ She would have punched me in the arm by now._**

And what was that paper for? It looked like a card. Maybe a birthday card? Cloud or Tifa's birthdays weren't coming up as far as he knew. If it _was_ a birthday card there was no reason to hide it. Unless... Marlene knew someone's birthday was coming up and didn't inform him so he would look like an idiot. That had to be it! It happened last year with Aerith's birthday. Aerith was so hurt...

Denzel mentaly shrugged. It wouldn't matter if he failed to make an art's and craft's project for someone as a birthday gift. He was too old for that stuff anyways. And his art skills weren't entirely top-notch Picasso either.

Marlene kept staring at him, a look on the border of a death glare and a strained patience, questioning look waiting for an answer.

His heart started to pound rapidly when he broke out of his thoughts and saw her intently staring at him. He strted to vaguely remembered how in class their teacher explained how when frogs were hibernating, their hearts started to beat very slowly, and would quicken when they woke back up. He felt like that now, except for the slimy toad-ness.

"Oh- er it was nothing..." He said shakily, already chickening out. He was halfway turned around to walk back out the door again, when he stopped. What would Zack think? He can't keep putting off how he felt. The raven haired man's words came back to him.

_'No what if's. Just go out and do it. If you don't, you might not have another chance and you'll ultimately regret it.'_

Denzel hung his head and inhaled. He turned back around slowly. Marlene had her head titled to the side and her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. She stopped swinging her legs.

He continued to stare down at his wiggling toes, a hand nervously rubbing up and down the side of his other arm. A steady blush was starting to form on his face. When he opened his mouth to speak, squeaky sounding air came out instead of actual words. After a few moments, he looked up and gazed into Marlene's brown eyes, which Denzel could only compare to cinnamon sugar (they even sparkled like it).

Denzel was feeling more confident and stared at Marlene head on. His blush was gone, only to jump on to Marlene's face and reside there at the look Denzel was giving her.

"I kinda like you." Denzel gushed out in a breath not reflecting the confidence on his face at all. He shut his eyes not wanting to see her reaction. "Well, not kinda, I do. I know I do, it's not a guess or anything. It's ok if you don't like me back, I get it but.." The boy trailed off as he realized he was babbling and pinched himself in the thigh as punishment.

He gulped and cracked opened an eye, avoiding Marlene and to see instead if her hand was slowly inching closer and closer to the box of crayons under her yellow pillow.

A delayed gasp came from Marlene and Denzel looked at her to see her face melted in a jumble of different expressions. But there was one emotion that primely stood out..

Instead of the crayon box, the bow adorned girl reached under her stomach to retrieve the card she had hidden earlier. It was slightly crinkled but not mangled. She held out the card to a stiff Denzel and shyly gazed down to her MP3 player and started to fiddle with it with her other hand.

Denzel lifted his arm like the Tin Man in need of some oil and grabbed the card.

Marlene stopped fidgeting over her music player and opted to chip off the paint on her thumbnail as Denzel looked over her offering.

On the front of the card said: DENZEL in neat, bouncy, pink colored script. On the bottom of his name was a huge heart, also colored in pink with an outline of blue that resembled his eyes and the crayon Marlene was previously holding.

Denzel looked up slightly to the blue crayon that jumped out of Marlene's hand on the ground in front of him. He continued on with observing HIS card.

After seeing the multiple tiny hearts with smiley faces swarming the larger one, he opened the card. He realized with astonishment it was a letter. A long letter.

_ Dear Denzel, I don't know how to say this, but I have a crush on you. I thought this letter would help me get it out since i'm such a wimp and couldn't find the courage to ask you if you liked me or even talk to you about it. I re-did this darn thing atleast a million times trying to get it as super duper neat as possible and the spelling right. Buuuut, I guess it'd be worth it even if you didn't like me back._

This was the end of the page on the left, so his eyes jumped to the other side of the card to continue to read.

_I don't really know how long I liked you for and i'm not sure why. You know those girls that you sometimes talk to in class? Well, they kinda make me mad when they talk to you and you smile and laugh. Call me shallow or the B word that Auntie Yuffie likes to say a lot, but I think i'm just jealous. So, I hope you like this letter (and me)_

_-Marlene xoxo_

After he finished reading the alternating colored script, Denzel's head was swimming.

So she liked him back? Was this real and not a joke Marlene liked to play on him sometimes? Denzel couldn't believe that Marlene felt the same exact way! From liking each other to the down right jealousy. And the fact that she put so much time and effort into this card was unbelievable.

Denzel noticed what must have been the rough drafts in a crumbled pile tossed off the side of the bed getting even more crushed by an obese purple chocobo stuffed animal that had a goofy smile. It seemed like Marlene had just snatched the whole pakage of Cloud's paper instead of a piece or two. Denzel giggled softly, then laughed loudly trying to muffle it with his hand.

Marlene was startled at the sudden outburst and looked up at him from her nails. He was...LAUGHING at her card that she put all her work and effort into? Did he think she was childish for writing a card instead of outright admitting how she felt, like him?

Marlene looked ashamed of herself.

"I love it!" Denzel exclaimed through his now subtle chuckling. Marlene brightened and instantly forgot about her insecurity.

"Really?" Marlene asked still on edge.

Denzel looked at her funny. "Of course! Why wouldn't I? I was so worried that you didn't like me back and you were going to kill my with your crayons." It was her turn to laugh.

A moment of silence as they giggled some more, sneaking glances at each other occasionaly in between.

"So..." Denzel spoke after his chuckles died down.

"Sooo..." Marlene repeated. "Did you like the color blue crayon I used?" She asked teasingly. Denzel grinned.

"You wanted it to match my eyes, right?" Marlene nodded.

Some more silence. It wasn't an awkward silence where you didn't know what to say after you confessed to someone that you liked them. It was more like one filled with a lot of thoughts, questions and feelings. A pleasant silence.

"Are we, you know..?" Denzel asked hesitantly. This was all too good to be true.

Denzel's answer was Marlene bounding off her bed to hold him in a rib crushing, gut busting hug. As Marlene was hugging him around his stomach with her head rested against his shoulder (Since she was a tad bit short), Denzel reached up and hugged her back.

On a normal day, he would start to flail around gasping for air from the hug. But today wasn't a normal day and he didn't mind.

Marlene pulled back and smiled toothily at Denzel, "Why, do you?" Not that she had to ask to get or give an answer to Denzel. They both knew the answer. Denzel knew this and he smiled broadly

"Oh! I just remembered!" Denzel said excitedly with his hands gripping Marlene's shoulders," Tifa had cupcakes in the oven before I came up here! We should go downstairs and get some!" She nodded enthusiastcally and Denzel held out a hand to her.

Marlene eyed it for a second but then eagerly grabbed it, both of them smiling slightly. They walked out to the hall, swinging their hands in between them. Denzel let go momentarily to rush in his room and hang up Marlene's card on the mirror of his dresser and came back out again to hold her hand again and head down stairs.

Zack had informed the whole household by now of the status of the two young ones (For he had been eavesdropping). When he told Barett, the bigger man didn't believe him at first. And then the rough-and-tough man almost cried, his eyes were watering. Barett couldn't believe Marlene was already dating her first crush! No matter how much Barett liked Denzel though, HE would be crushed if he ever hurt her.

The new and young couple had just walked into the living room. Zack saw the two stroll by while he was lounging on the couch watching TV with Cloud, his feet propped up on the grumbling blonde who wasn't happy to have his smelly feet on him. Zack gave a thumbs up to Denzel and grinned. Cloud noticed and copied Zack's actions but with a full blown smile instead of a cocky smirk.

As they passed by and left the room, Zack jammed his toe in Clouds belly button to get his attention.

"That's my apprentice right there." He said in a way Cloud thought was TOO serious.

His Denzel was NOT going to become a player under Zacks influence. Cloud glared at Zack and the raven haired man raised his hands in surrender and slid his feet off the blonde very slowly as if sudden movements would have the chocobo-man fly into a rage.

The young couple rounded the corner and entered Tifa's domain. Tifa had just finished frosting the last vanilla cupcake when she spotted them.

"Well hi guys! Want some cupcakes? Freshly frosted." Tifa said with a smile and winked. The kids nodded and Tifa handed Denzel a plate with three of the delicious goodies on it.

The bar was closed today, the only day out of the whole week so the bar was quiet an empty, a fraction of sunlight pouring in. Denzel led Marlene to a table, and like the gentleman that he was, pulled out the chair for he. She giggled a 'thanks' and sat down across from Denzel.

Tifa, who as soon as the kids turned around rushed into the living room where Zack and Cloud were.

"Guys, come here and look! It's sooo cute!" Tifa whisper-squealed/yelled. The boys shuddered at the pitch and got up to follow the dark haired woman out of the living room. Tifa creeped into the bar and ducked behind the bar's counter and motioned for the others to do the same while also motioning for them to stay quiet.

Catching on to her train of thought, they listened and hid behind the counter, staking out Denzel and Marlenes first "date"

Seeing Denzel pulling out the chair for Marlene sent Tifa in a round of silent 'Aww's!', Cloud proudly put an arm around Tifa's shoulders and Zack stifly, but enthusiastically fist pumped the air being carefuly not to knock anything off the counter or bang his head.

Marlene daintily ate her cupcake while swinging her legs cheerfully under her. She usually pigged out on sweets but tried to remember her manners. Denzel however, devoured his cupcake without any thoughts of how disgusting he must have looked. But he didn't have to worry about that, because Marlene thought it was cute.

Marlene laughed and pointed at Denzel's face, "Your a mess!" She exclaimed not so quietly. She dropped her cupcake and started to shake with laughter.

Denzel mock pouted, crossing his arms. He stared at her with drawn eyebrows. His serious expression just made her laugh even more. He looked so ridiculous with chocolate frosting all over his face freckled with crumb's!

"What do you mean?" Denzel tried to ask, pretending to be oblivious just to humour Marlene more.

"Frosting- every-HA!" she said, not being about to get a hold of herself.

Denzel smirked, amused." Oh? Well you don't! Lets fix that, shall we?" Marlene knew this meant trouble but she couldn't stop! Denzel swiftly snatched Marlene's half eaten cupcake and lightly smooshed frosting onto her nose.

Denzel grinned triumphantly and then the unexpected happened. A snort that sounded like it came from the offspring of a cow and horse came from Marlene. She stopped laughing at hearing the ugly sound she made, Denzel doing the same. Then they both broke out in even louder hysterics.

Another snort came from Marlene, "Oh my gosh! I think some frosting went in my nose!" She stopped giggling and looked worridly at Denzel.

Denzel found this to be the perfect moment and deadpanned. "Now the frosting is in your brain. There's no way to get it out now. UNLESS you go to the..." Denzel looked around suspiciously then whispered,"DOCTOR!"

Another thing Marlene hated was doctors. Her eyes widened and she kicked him under the table in the shin.

Hopping he was fibbing she tried to reasure herself with a,"Nuh-uh!"

He just laughed evily.

Marlene just ignored him now, but was still smiling. She had this fluttering feeling in her stomach that wouldn't go away.

"Oh hey, there's one more cupcake." Denzel said suddently while pointing to the last cupcake on the plate.

"Yeah. It looks kinda lonely. Do you want it?" Marlene suggested. She really wanted the cupcake, but it'd be rude to swipe it from under Denzel's frosting smeared nose if he wanted it.

Denzel raised an eyebrow and the corner of his lips twitched up at Marlene's eager tone. "No, but I know you do." He said while staring her down with a knowing look. He knew Marlene well enough to notice that different sparkle in her eyes, the one that stood out from the others. That sparkle that said 'THAT'S MINE, I WANT IT,DON'T TOUCH IT.' and was specifically reserved for sweets. Denzel always wondered how the girl stayed so skinny after all the junk food she ate.

Without a word, Marlene greedily grabbed the cupcake and bite into it giving a thankful smile to Denzel.

As she was eating the last cupcake Denzel's eyes drifted over to the large window and looked outside. He knew he saw storm clouds back on the roof with Zack. It was dark yet sunny outside as it rained heavily.

He poked Marlene's chipmunk looking cheek filled with cupcake excitedly. She looked up at him wondering why he was jabbing her.

"HURMPH?" Marlene said through her dessert being careful not to spew food in Denzel's face.

"Lets go outside!" He suggested while nodding out the window, still poking her cheek.

Marlene pulled back and looked out the window. Seeing the rain she said, "AH HYU CRAHZY?" while covering her mouth with her hand, struggling to talk with food in her mouth.

"Sure, why not?" And with that he grabbed hold on both of Marlene's hands, pulled her up from her chair and dragged her outside. Marlene gulped down the rest of her cupcake and giddily laughed when she went outside, the cold rain hitting her face while holding hands with Denzel and twirling in circles.

The three nosey adults discreatly rushed to the window and watched the two children having the time of their lives out in the rain, their hair already matted down thanks to the down pour. Cloud, Tifa, and Zack smiled happily at the children.

**The End**

* * *

><p>Aww, how cute was that? I decided to finish this story up since I sorta came to a dead end. Back it ended nicely, yes? Sorry for the sorta long wait, I was partically busy this week, plus I was working on some other things aswell o;<p>

I was THINKING that with enough reviews and whether you guys thought it was a good idea, I'll start another fic filled with Denzel/Marlene bite-sized fluff filled moments as like a sequel to this... So what do you guys think? You can tell me through a review and you can already suggest some idea's for it! ;D

~Sabby-Sama.


	7. BONUS CHAPTER!

**BONUS CHAPTER!**

Kadaj sighed and pounded his fists to his forehead when he heard the horrendous sound of footsteps rapidly clomping up the steps.

As the footsteps neared-coming closer to his bedroom door- Kadaj frantically looked about, trying to find a hiding place.

Just when the silver haired man was considering hopping out the window and potentially break a leg or two only to be re-healed magically, the door bust open with a slam.

"Kadaj. I need help!" Denzel whined quietly.

Said silver haired man held back a a shout of annoyance. What did this mini-fied version of a despicable, disgusting, and all other negative adjectives starting with a D possibly want with him?

He curtly turned his fun twisty chair, the only thing that made him feel any joy in this rundown household, to face the boy.

Instead of working on the breath-taking scenery he was painting of the grimy Edge with watercolors, he had to attend to this nuiscance. If he didn't and threw the child out the window instead, Tifa would kick him out and Cloud would slice him into itty-bitty Remnant bits and finally toss him in the local Dumpster.

Kadaj rudely scrutinized him for a moment or two, hoping his cat-like rapist eyes would scare the creature off. The child stood his ground. He tried harder, squinting his eyes ever so more and baring his teeth. The result made Denzel laugh.

"Are you okay? If you need any prune juice, I can get some from Tifa."

Kadaj grumbled curses. He was now thinking that seeing the child fly out the window and faceplant into the pavement below would be an ever more fantastic sight than his painting.

"I am not old, nor have backed up bowels, thank you very much." Kadaj shot back at the boy. But Denzel thought otherwise, what with that silver mane (that seemed to be balding?) and pained facial expression.

Instead of stating his thoughts which he knew would only get him in trouble, Denzel produced the homework materials seemingly out of nowhere.

"I need help with this." Denzel dropped the load forecfully onto Kadaj's desk, making paint tubes explode and a cup of dirty water spill all over his work.

_That was it._ This was too much of a burden for him. Why were humans so cruel?

Kadaj cried. Hard.

"Just. . .J-Just leave!" Kadaj shouted between choked sobs. He dropped his head on the desk, thus dying his hair a multitude of vibrant colors.

Denzel was speechless. Did this man just cry over nothing? All Kadaj had done on the canvas was a stick figure and a grey lollipop looking tree! He always knew there was something wrong with these Remnants...

"Umm. . .I'm sor-?" Kadaj bluntly cut of the boys weak apology with a roar of "LEAVE.", and immedietly went back to sobbing.

Before a very confused Denzel was about to turn and walk out of the room, a glowing blue ball of Materia bounced off his homework. Befuddled, he looked up to see Kadaj staring at him murderously with bloodshot eyes and a tear streaked face, cluching a box of Materia maniacally in his lap.

Hadn't Cloud confisgated the Remnants' Materia?

With scrunched eyebrows, Denzel backed out of the room slowly, not wanting to scare the frazzled clone. Kadaj watched him leave with beady yet glassy looking eyes, arm posed to chuck another sphere of Materia at the offending pieces of school work.

Denzel ran a hand through his hair in bewilderment.

NEVER go back into Kadaj's room.

He was _almost_ home alone. The only breathing beings in the building were himself, Kadaj, and the other Sephlings, not to mention Sephiroth himself. Ever since the silver haired group pinky promised to be good, Tifa had allowed them to take up residence in the bar/home since they had no where else to go.

Walking as quickly as he could away from the door that now had strange shouts emnanting from behind it, he searched for another tutor.

He heard murmurings down the hall. Denzel cautiously peeked inside the room, checking for any signs of Yazoo also being crazed.

Yazoo heard the creak of the floorboard outside his room and looked up from his book. He smiled at the youth. He wasn't like Kadaj who despised the strange midget humans. He had heard the words"child" and "kid" being used around the home, but it wasn't in his vocabulary yet.

"Ah, hello Denzel. What brings you here?" Yazoo asked as he politely placed his book down and folded his hands beneath his chin to gaze at the boy quite pedophile-ish.

Denzel sighed in relief. You never knew how the Remnants would act. They were different almost daily. He'll never forget the day when Yazoo tried to chop his ear off with a cheese knife.

Yazoo was probably the Remnant Denzel was closest to, despite how oddly he would stare at him from time to time.

"Homework." The boy responded as he jostled the items in his hands. Yazoo glanced at the homework and flickered his eyes back to Denzel.

Yazoo smiled creepily."Sit down, I want to talk." It was as if the important work Denzel had was invisible to the silver haired man.

Denzel thought for a moment. All this stuff was due the next day, but then again, he could always stay up late and finish while he watched late night shows that Tifa banned in the household. "Er, ok. . .?" Denzel asked. Might as well blow off the mountains of work.

He sat down in the spot that Yazoo had patted. They were sitting on the ground, backs against the side of the twin bed.

"You know Mother, right?" Yazoo asked. Denzel felt like groaning. Yazoo would randomly break into a speech a couple times a week about his mommy. Whether it be while he was peeling a banana, fetching the newspaper in his bunny slippers, or while he was on the toilet. He would proudly talk about 'Mother' even if the rest of the people in the home weren't listening, and even when he was by himself.

"Yes, I assume? Mother is almighty, giving birth to the world. . ." and Denzel continued to listen, halfway bored to death by this psychopath's sermon.

Denzel could have got up and strolled out of the room, but Yazoo wouldn't let him leave until he was finished. He learned this from the last time he was stuck in one of Yazoo's long speeches. Stuck like Zack the time Yuffie dared him to super glue himself to the door of the bar and greet customers who walked in.

As soon as the man finished his speech with a startlingly loud chant-like holler, (apparently a tribute to 'Mother') Denzel dashed out the door, belongings in hand.

He continued to whiz down the hallway, ignoring the shouts, farts and burps coming from Loz's room. There was no way he was going to walk into that Remnants gas chamber of a room, only to suffocate on the foul smelling passed gas.

Denzel found Sephiroth sitting in one of the bars booths, alone, drinking lavender tea. The man didn't lift his head from the enjoymnet of his so-not-feminie drink to greet the boy.

The boy hesitated a moment before approaching the man. He repeatedly told himself not to stutter when he spoke to the almighty man. After all, Sephiroth was just as intelligent as Vincent, but hopefully less creepy. Denzel winced at the memory.

"Sephiroth?" The boy asked, trying to get the man's attention.

An irritated grunt of acknowledgement.

The youth was even more concerned when he noticed the flash of metal lying on the booth next to Sephiroth. The dangerous sword glinted a smirk dangerously at him. The chestnut haired boy pulled his shirt around the neck, trying to loosen it and unchoke himself.

Denzel continued,"Yazoo and Kadaj tried helping me but they were. . .busy." Denzel spoke meekly. He paused. "You're smart, right?"

A snort from Sephiroth. With squinted eyes the older man pierced the boys blue ones.

"You dare question my smarticle-ness?" Sephiroth muttered. Even if it was a soft mutter, it scared Denzel so much it gave him a premature heart attack.

Denzel gulped, suddenly feeling sweaty. "N-No!" Denzel stuttered quickly, thoroughly petrified. "Sir!" The boy added. Just when the boy was about to drop to the ground and bow at the mans feet a couple of times followed by twenty pushups for his stupidity, Sephiroth waved him off.

"At ease, soldier." Sephiroth mocked him humourlessly.

It was silent for a moment as Sephiroth slurped some more of his tea. By now the man was starting to get aggitated by the boy who was disturbing his lovely cup of tea, which ironically was in Cloud's coffee mug.

Denzel noticed how much slobber the silverhaired man was getting all over Cloud's favourite coffe mug that was elaborately shaped like a Chocobo's head. Each noisy, saliva infused slurp made Denzel cringe in disgust.

"So," Sephiroth said, putting down Cloud's mug. "What do you need my marvelous brain for?" he prompted.

"Uh, homework." Denzel answered as he shyed away from a lake of bubbly drool on the table.

Sephiroth didn't noticed the boy shuffling away from him uncomfortably. Instead, the mans eyes flashed up to angrily meet the boys, his eyes were swirling with different hues of blues and greens as his pupils had their own seizures, contorting from cat slits to normal round dots.

This confused Denzel more than it scared him. Did Sephiroth not like the word 'uh'?

Quicker than lightning greased with name brand Sephiroth Spit, the man plucked Masamune from beside him, and shish kabob-ed the ten foot thick pile of the school horrors that shall not be named. Denzel thankfully had held it out in front of him, to show the over salivating man.

Denzel went cross eyed as he stared at the point of Masamune staring back at him, nearly picking the boys nose for him.

* * *

><p><strong>Tybs23 gave me the inspiration to write this, so I did, as sort of a gift to her! =D So this Bonus chapter is like a spinoff of the rest of the story. I was aiming to write some crack in this, so how did I do? :S I'D ALSO LIKE TO MENTION; that the sequel to this story won't be about bite sized moments like I said, but a whole new story! Yay! I plan on getting that up and running soon.<strong>

**Review to tell me what you thought!**

**~Sabby-Sama**


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